SOLI
134
SOLICITATION
full approval of the Bishop of Le Mans, they com-
menced the Benedictine life. In 1837 Dom Gueranger
was professed at Rome and a few months later Pope
Gregory XVI raised Solesmes to the rank of an abbey,
naming Dom Gueranger first abbot and formally
erecting at the same time the new "Congregation of
France" with Solesmes as the mother-house and its
abbot as superior-general. In course of time daughter-
houses have been founded from Solesmes, viz: Liguge
(1853), Silos in Spain (1880), Glanfeuil (1892), and
Fontanelle (1893), — these four being old monasteries
restored; also new foundations at Alarseilles (1865),
Farnborough in England and Wisque (1895), Paris
(1893), and Kergonan (1897). Since its restoration
Solesmes has been di.SvSolvcd by the French Govern-
ment no less than four times. In 1880, 1882, and 1883
the monks were ejected by force but, receiving hos-
pitality in the neighbourhood, succeeded each time
in re-entering their abbey. At the final expulsion in
1903 they were, like all the other religious of France,
obliged to leave the country. Between the years 1890
and 1900 an entirely new and imposing monastery
had been added to the existing buildings, which had
become too small for the growing community.
Hardly, however, had the monks got settled in it
when they were driven forth. They then estabhshed
themselves in the Isle of Wight, where, after a few
years' sojourn in a rented house at Appuldurcombe,
they have now nearly completed the building of a new
abbey at Quarr, on what was formerly monastic
property.
The community of Solesmes has achieved a world- wide reputation for its erudition and its devotion to monastic and liturgical studies, the foundation for which was laid by Dom Gueranger himself. Amongst those who have thus brought fame to the abbey may be mentioned Dom Pitra, afterwards cardinal and Librarian at the Vatican, Dom Pothier, Dom Cabrol, Dom Fcrotin, Dom Mocquereau, Dom Besse, Dom Quentin, and Dom Leclercq. But the greatest work, perhaps, done by the monks of Solesmes, and that for which they are best known, has been the restora- tion of the true Gregorian chant of the Church. Dom Gueranger set himself the task of resuscitating sound liturgical traditions in France at a time when such were at their lowest ebb. He revived the accent and rhythm of jilainsong, which had been lost, and in restoring the true text of the chant he laid down the principle, which has since been always strictly adhered to, that when various manuscripts of different periods and places agreed on a version, there existed the mo.st correct text. He entrusted the work to Dom Jansions and Dom Pothier, the latter producing his "Lea Melodies Gregoriennes" in 1880 and the "Liber Gradualis" in 1883. These, as well as many other pubUcations, were all printed at the Solesmes Im- primerie, which for many years was an imjjortant appanage of the abbey. Unfortunately the entire plant was confiscated by the French government at the suppression and since then the Solesmes books have been printed l)y Deselee of Toiu-nai. Dom Pothier followed the lieims-Cambrai etUtion as far as possible, so as to shelter himself under the authority it still pos.sessed, though the still higher authority of Ratisbon proved an obstacle in his way. Through this desire to be conciliatory, and also the insufficiency of manuscripts, the ab.sence of any competent check, and the want of practical prejiaratory trial, the earlier Solesmes editions were bound to be defective. Rut they served their purpose in the return to antiquity and have formed the basis for further research. Dom Pothier's pioneer labours have been followed l)y those of Dom M(ic()uereau. whose gn';il work has lieeu the personal training of Ihe Solesmes Srhohi. which has indirectly innueiiccd many others, .and (lie publication of the " I'alrour^iphic .\lusicale". By means of pholograi)liic reproductions of scores of manuscripts
from all the principal libraries of Europe, a far greater
degree of exactness has been secured than was possible
with mere transcripts which might contain copyists'
errors. These reproductions have been brought to-
gether and studied at Solesmes and the variants of
the different meloches classified according to their
school or church of origin, date, etc. Intrinsic qualities
also have been carefully considered in deciding on the
most correct and universal version, but when these
criteria have proved insufficient preference has
been given to the Roman version, when there has
happened to be one. This method of selection is
described in detail, with examples, in the little bro-
chure of Dom Cagin and Dom Mocquereau referred
to in the bibliography. The labours of the Solesmes
fathers received the highest possible recognition in
1904, when Pope Pius X (Motu Proprio, 25 April,
1904) entrusted "particularly to the monks of the
French Congregation and to the monastery of
Solesmes" the work of preparing ao official Vatican
edition of the Church's Chant, and appointed a Com-
mission for the purpo.se mth Dom Pothier as its
president. The Gradual has already appeared and
the Antiphonal is in preparation. (See Gueranger,
Prosper Louis Pascal.)
PiTHA, Spicikgium Sohsmense (Paris, 1852-8); Gueranger, Esxni historique sur Vabbnye de Solesmes (Le Mans, 1846) ; HouTiN, Dom Couturier (Angers. 1S99) ; David, Les grandea ahbayes de Voccident (Liile, 1907) ; Cagin and Mocquereau, Plainrhant and Solesmes (tr., London, 1904).
G. Cyprian Alston.
Soli, a titular see in Cyprus, suffragan of Salamis. Soli w;is an important port on the Clarius, on the southern side of the western portion of C.\'prus. It was an Athenian colony founded by Demophon, son of Theseus, or, according to another tradition, by Phalerus and Acamas. At first called (Epea, it was transferred to a better site by Philocj^arus, King of ffipea, on the suggestion of Solon, from whom it got its new name, becoming the capital of one of the nine kingdoms in the island. It possessed temples of Aphrodite and Isis. The rest of its history is un- known, though it is mentioned by many ancient geographers. Its ruins, called Palcea Chora, or old town, are near the village of Karavostasi, about two miles north-west of Lefka. Its first bishop was St. Auxibius, whose name occurs in the "Roman Martyr- ology" on 19 February; he is said to have been baptized by John Mark, the companion of St. Bama- bus, and to have had for successors another Auxibius, his disciple, and his brother Themistagoras. The feasts of two other bishops of Soli, St. Marcellus and St. Eutychius, are celebrated in the Greek Church. Another, Peter, probably a legendary character, is mentioned in the calendar of the Abyssinian Church on 2 January. We find later: Evagrius, 431; Epi- phanius, 451; Stratonicus, 680; Eustathius, 787; Leon- tius, 1222; Nibo, 1260; Neophytus, died in 1301; Leo, his successor; Theophanes, towards the close of the Venetian occupation. During this occupation Soli was the residence of the Bishop of Leucosia. We hear also of a Benjamin, Bishop of Soli in 1660, owing doubtless to a temporarj' restoration of the see by the Greeks.
Smith. Diet, of Greek and Roman Geog. (London, 1870). s. v.; Le QuiEN, Oriens chrislianus. II (Paris, 1740). 1071; Eubel. Hiernrchia catholica mcdii (rvi, I, 4S1; Hackett. .4 Ilistory of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus (London, 1901), 240 sq..323 sq. S. PETRIDfcs.
Solicitation (Lat. soJlicilair), technically in canon law the crime (if making use of the Sacrament of Peii.-uii-c, directly or iiidirei'tly, for the purjjose of drawing others into sins of lust. The Church legis- lation on this point is vei-y severe, and numerous po))es have denounced this crime \'ehenu'ntly and decreed punishments for its commission. The prin- ('ip:d document on the subject is tliat of Gregory XV, "Universi Gregis" (30 Aug., 1622), confirmed by the
